This carbon sequestration research is part of a new pilot grassland conservation program to protect at-risk grasslands from conversion to cropland in the northern Great Plains. Natural resources partners have leveraged more than $3 million in private and federal funding to support an innovative program that extends protection of privately-owned grasslands that have expired under the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). In the past two years alone, the number of CRP acres nationally has dropped from 31.2 million to 27 million. Of the 4.2-million-acre-decline, lands lost in North Dakota and Montana accounted for 1.6 million acres, or 38 percent. The program aims to encourage private landowners to conserve CRP grasslands...

Brief:Under this project a collaborative and integrated geodatabase of inventoried connectivity barriers within the South Central Lake Superior Basin (SCLSB) was developed to prioritize restoration for more than 2,000 inventoried stream crossings. SUMMARY:KBIC Natural Resources Department received funding through the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes Landscape Conservation Cooperative to develop a collaborative and integrated geodatabase of inventoried connectivity barriers within the South Central Lake Superior Basin (SCLSB), to prioritize restoration for more than 2,000 inventoried stream crossings (see Figure 1). This project stemmed from KBIC’s participation in the Partnering for Watershed Restoration Group (PWR),...

Vernal or seasonal pools are small, temporary bodies of water that can serve as critical habitat for frogs, salamanders, reptiles, invertebrates, and other species. The first step in developing effective conservation strategies for vernal pools and associated wildlife species is to know where on the landscape these small wetlands exist. Although several several states and organizations in the Northeast region have initiated coordinated vernal pool mapping projects, this information has never been assembled in one place.Currently, the Vernal Pool Data Cooperative (VPDC) consists of over 60,000 vernal pool locations submitted by cooperators representing ten states and two Canadian provinces from Virginia to Quebec’s...

This project developed a soil vulnerability index and map indicating where forest cover will be most affected by climate change. Using this map, researchers developed a greater understanding of potential changes in soil moisture and temperature regimes under future climate conditions. They then evaluated how this information could be used to improve vegetation models across the landscape. They compared the results of different modeling approaches to the soil vulnerability map, synthesized the state of knowledge and uncertainty, and introduced management implications for action.

Within the time frame of the longevity of tree species, climate change will change faster than the ability of natural tree migration. Migration lags may result in reduced productivity and reduced diversity in forests under current management and climate change. We evaluated the efficacy of planting climate-suitable tree species (CSP), those tree species with current or historic distributions immediately south of a focal landscape, to maintain or increase aboveground biomass, productivity, and species and functional diversity. We modeled forest change with the LANDIS-II forest simulation model for 100 years (2000–2100) at a 2-ha cell resolution and five-year time steps within two landscapes in the Great Lakes region...

For management agencies, there is a growing need to understand (1) how climate change affects and will continue to affect wildlife populations of conservation concern, and (2) how the negative Upper Midwest Great Lakes Landscape Conservation Cooperative Request for Funding 2013 demographic effects of climate change can be mitigated through management strategies. Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment (CCVA) integrates available data and scientific understanding in a transparent process, details assumptions and uncertainties, and ultimately projects population-level responses of target species to future climate change. Climate change is already influencing distributions and abundances of species throughout North...

This project initiated the first large-scale Tribal government discussions on the relationship of scientific research and traditional knowledge in the activities of the NPLCC. The project: 1. Reviewed existing approaches and protocols related to scientific research and traditional knowledge in the Pacific Northwest, characterized different types of traditional knowledge and the contexts in which these are encountered; 2. Initiated discussions among the 21 member Tribes of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission (all other Tribes are welcome to join); 3. Reported on their views; 4. Proposed a framework for the use of TK based on discussions and presented it for a possible consensus by all participants; and 5. Conducted...

The project had 2 broad objectives. The first objective was to meet the needs of the Yurok Tribe in collecting and documenting TEK to inform tribal planning related to climate change impacts to culturally significant wildlife and habitats that support these species. This information is crucial to informing Yurok Tribe resource managers and the Yurok Council as it embarks on climate change adaptation planning. The Yurok Tribes Council and Environmental, Forestry, Wildlife, Fisheries and Cultural Resources Programs will benefit from the knowledge and wisdom gained from the project as the Tribe prepares for climate change impacts. The second objective was to assist the NPLCC in its efforts to integrate Tribal TEK into...

The Rio Grande/Río Bravo is the lifeline of the region, including the Chihuahuan Desert, supplying drinking water for more than 6 million people, including numerous Native American tribes, and irrigating about 2 million acres of land. The river also forms about 1250 miles of the international border between the United States and Mexico from El Paso/Ciudad Juarez to the Gulf of Mexico. The Rio Grande/Río Bravo and its tributaries are increasingly stressed by growing water demands, invasive species, and alterations that impact its flow and water quality.These stressors are likely to be exacerbated by extreme droughts and floods.The South Central Climate Science Center (SC CSC) has funded projects to synthesize the...

This project will provide a comprehensive synthesis of beaver recolonization science and techniques for successful reintroduction or population expansion through a thorough, in-depth, coordinated review of all North American beaver-related information, including identification of research gaps and data needs, and recommendations for project implementation. This information will be disseminated through a series of one-day workshops.

Full life-cycle vulnerability assessments are identifying the effects of climate change on nongame migratory birds that are of conservation concern and breed in the upper Midwest and Great Lakes region. Full life-cycle analyses are critical, as current efforts likely underestimate the vulnerability of migratory land birds due to a focus on assessing only one component of the annual cycle. The approach provides a framework for integrating exposure to climate changes, sensitivity to these changes, and the potential for adaptation in both winter and summer seasons, and accounts for carry-over effects from one season to another. The results of this work will inform regional management by highlighting both local and...

The Tongass National Forest has identified resources that are important to stakeholders and vulnerable to climate-related stressors. Cooperators will review an action plan and convene a workshop to be held in Southeast Alaska in 2016. The workshop will foster collaboration between scientists, managers, and stakeholders. Workshop goals include: sharing information about climate-related stressors and effects on NPLCC Priority Resources in the Tongass National Forest; developing strategic priorities for improving understanding, reducing risks, and increasing adaptive capacity and resilience; coordinating support for increasing knowledge and informing resource managers

The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of the north-central U.S. and south-central Canada contains millions of small prairie wetlands that provide critical habitat to many migrating and breeding waterbirds. Due to their small size and the relatively dry climate of the region, these wetlands are considered at high risk for negative climate change effects as temperatures increase. To estimate the potential impacts of climate change on breeding waterbirds, we predicted current and future distributions of species common in the PPR using species distribution models (SDMs). We created regional-scale SDMs for the U.S. PPR using Breeding Bird Survey occurrence records for 1971–2011 and wetland, upland, and climate variables....

The PFLCC has recently completed a set of comprehensive conservation planning scenarios for the state of Florida. This represents the first statewide effort to assess likely alternative futures for conservation considering an array of financial, biological, climatological and urbanistic conditions. These spatially explicit and temporal scenarios simulate both urban growth and climate change and identify the most suitable areas for conservation given the resulting land use pattern. Conservation allocations are based on both fee-title and conservation easements.The conservation priorities and mechanisms expressed in these scenarios are based on a wide set of contributing factors, and simulated conservation is purposefully...

The PFLCC has recently completed a set of comprehensive conservation planning scenarios for the state of Florida. This represents the first statewide effort to assess likely alternative futures for conservation considering an array of financial, biological, climatological and urbanistic conditions. These spatially explicit and temporal scenarios simulate both urban growth and climate change and identify the most suitable areas for conservation given the resulting land use pattern. Conservation allocations are based on both fee-title and conservation easements.The conservation priorities and mechanisms expressed in these scenarios are based on a wide set of contributing factors, and simulated conservation is purposefully...

Conservation planning, the process of deciding how to protect, conserve, enhance and(or) minimize loss of natural and cultural resources, is a fundamental process to achieve conservation success in a time of rapid environmental change. Conservation targets, the measurable expressions of desired resource conditions, are an important tool in biological planning to achieve effective outcomes. Conservation targets provide a focus for planning, design, conservation action, and collaborative monitoring of environmental trends to guide landscape-scale conservation to improve the quality and quantity of key ecological and cultural resources. It is essential to have an iterative and inclusive method to define conservation...

The GeoAdaptive and GeoDesign scenarios were extended to the state of Florida line and incorporated CLIP 3.0 into the scenarios for the ecological input. The scenarios will consist of urbanization level of 31,000,000 people by 2060 and sea level rise of 1.0m, and policies and assumptions such a build first conserve second (BAU) and conserve first build second (proactive). The type of conservation was varied; fee simple purchase and easement percentages. The first scenario had a 50/50 split between fee simple purchase and easements and the second and third scenario had 90% easement and 10% fee simple purchase. The difference in scenario was in the process of conservation (CLIP priority area 1 or Florida Forever land...

Refinement of Gopher Tortoise Habitat Identification and Related Land Cover Data. The benefits of this project include: 1) much improved gopher tortoise remote habitat identification that could have a strong influence on potential listing status (with the likelihood that significantly more habitat may be identified); 2) better statewide land cover data regarding scrubby flatwoods and potentially refined mesic flatwoods and dry prairie classifications; and 3) potential spin off benefits regarding better habitat identification for related species such as gopher frogs and other xeric adapted species that might be found in on drier flatwoods and dry prairie sites.This raster represents a potential habitat for the Florida...

The PFLCC and Florida’s State Wildlife Action Plan have goals in common including working with partners to develop shared priorities, working at the landscape scale, developing conservation targets to monitor progress of species and habitat conservation efforts, and providing a forum for dialogue about the most important actions to take to conserve Florida’s natural and cultural resources. Partnering in these initiatives will achieve greater results for wildlife and habitat conservation in Florida. In addition, the FWC has already undertaken key activities that are foundational to the PFLCC including development of the Cooperative Conservation Blueprint and support of the Critical Lands and Waters Identification...